The Effects of Nonpharmacologic Interventions on Cognitive Function in Patients With Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

Problem Identification: To evaluate the effects of nonpharmacologic interventions on cognitive functioning in adult patients with cancer.

Literature Search: EMBASE, MEDLINE®, Cochrane Library CENTRAL, CINAHL®, and Korean databases.

Data Evaluation: Cochrane's risk of bias for randomized studies and the RevMan, version 5.3, program of the Cochrane Library were used.

Synthesis: Fourteen controlled trials with a total of 977 participants met the inclusion criteria. Overall, nonpharmacologic interventions had beneficial effects on subjective cognitive functioning and memory, but not on attention, executive functioning, and verbal ability. In the subgroup analyses by approach type, psychological interventions had a significant effect on perceived cognitive function.